El Rosario tries to prevent the nightmare it experienced in 2023, when the fire was very close to various population centers, from happening again. This is why the City Council is implementing measures in the so-called interface zone, where forest areas meet inhabited spaces. The main actions involve cleaning orchards according to the Municipal Cleaning Ordinance, fencing and enclosing plots and parcels; the firefighter goats, and the always necessary awareness.
“Since the great forest fire of summer 2023, we have not stopped looking for solutions and formulas so that houses in interface areas have the greatest protection, and I committed, at the fire’s edge, to push forward initiatives that would improve people’s safety,” says the mayor of Rosario, Escolástico Gil, who has already witnessed several times how flames approached inhabited areas.
Streamlining Procedures
The leader of the Initiative for El Rosario-Greens highlights that from that commitment arose the municipal ordinance for plot cleaning, which streamlines the necessary procedures for owners to carry out maintenance of their lands, and the Municipal Plan for Forest Fire Risk, drafted by the Chair of Disaster Risk Reduction at ULL.
That desire to find solutions to the problem was also the seed of the firefighter goat grazing project, which has been clearing underbrush in areas such as Peñafiel, El Poleo, or La Montañeta for almost two years. This action has been complemented with a line of subsidies to help goat herders and shepherds maintain their activity, according to the City Council.
Montaña Carbonero
One of the most recent actions is at Finca Montaña Carbonero, where weeds, grass, and brambles have been removed from parcels distributed in terraces or banks. The Rosario City Council emphasizes that this work “minimizes the possibility of endangering the safety of people, animals, or individual heritage in case of a forest fire.” These works add to those carried out months ago on parcels located on Preventorio Street.
The City Council also points out that this formula of natural preparation against the effects of fire is a result of the municipal initiative for goat and sheep sector shepherds from the upper part of the municipality, specifically from La Esperanza and Las Barreras, to enhance grazing activities for livestock in interface zones and ravines, as well as private properties where owners permit the entry of their animals, as a method for maintaining rural nuclei near the forest and preventing the more severe consequences of a potential fire in inhabited areas.
Municipal Action Plan
The City Council recalls that it is the first in Tenerife to specifically develop a Municipal Action Plan for Forest Fire Risk, prepared by the Chair of Disaster Risk Reduction. Resilient Cities, of the University of La Laguna (ULL), already approved by the General Directorate of Emergencies of the Government of the Canary Islands.
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